Belarus (ベラルーシ, Berarūshi) is a character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. In 2008, Himaruya gave human names to some of the characters and she received the name Natalia Arlovskaya (ナターリヤ・アルロフスカヤ, Natāriya Arurofusukaya).

Contents

Appearance

Belarus has long, platinum blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She wears a long navy blue dress, a white hairbow (shown in one illustration to be on a headband), a white waist apron, and black shoes with black thigh-highs. Russia has also stated that she is "a very pretty girl" in Episode 42.

In her cameo appearance in Meeting Of The World in Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 1, her hair was colored light brown, and she wore a black hairbow and black dress (with no apron). Her hair also appeared to be drawn shorter.

In a sketch by Hidekaz Himaruya, she is shown to wear a deep green jacket, a long matching skirt, and black boots as part of her military uniform. Her bow is also colored black.

Personality And Interests

She is an intimidating, harsh young woman who has a deep infatuation with her older brother Russia, to the point where she wants to get married to him. However, he doesn't feel the same way, and feels disturbed by her very presence.

Belarus is shown to carry around a knife at points, most notably in the "Meeting Of The World" strip where she's holding it to a traumatized Latvia's back as her brother scares him.

According to a footnote at the end of Russia's Big And Little Sisters in Hetalia volume 2, Belarus briefly became a sort of adoptive younger sister to America after the fall of the Soviet Union. Her appearance as a Hetalia "desktop buddy" also reveals that she loves the occult, and that her favorite reading material was the Soviet newspaper Pravda. Also from her appearance as a "desktop buddy" it is revealed that she can see ghosts and is quite fond of her traditional clothes.

It also has been stated that Belarus is a good acrobat and knows a lot of useless trivia like the name of Paris Hilton's dog. Belarus is also quite vulgar in her speech, usually using profanity calmly.

There is much Belarusian history which, like her brother's, makes her a rather easy character to sympathize with, though most fans can't get past her incestuous intentions. Unfortunately, most fans only focus on her incestuous intentions.

Relationships

Lithuania

Though Lithuania has a crush on her, Belarus hates him and has treated him cruelly since they were children (having once broken his leg). When he did manage to go out on a three minute date with her, she broke all of his fingers.

Russia

Belarus' older brother. Her love for him is as obsessive as it is unrequited, though much to Russia's dismay, the latter does not deter her. She is shown to stalk after him, as well as stick by his side to intimidate those who she feels might stand in their way. In one episode, all the countries were shown to have left the Soviet Union and left Russia by himself. Belarus came back and said to Russia "Even if you don't want me to stay, I'll stay," to which Russia said "That's nice...But kinda creepy".

In the Hetalia desktop buddies created by Himaruya, Belarus' obsession for Russia is elaborated on even more, with her stating her desire to get suggestive photos of her brother.

Ukraine

Belarus's older sister. Their relationship is not shown very much, except for the fact that she, Russia, and Belarus were all siblings back in the days. However, Belarus can be seen glaring at Ukraine in some of Himaruya's pictures, possibly out of jealousy of Russia's attention towards her and now Belarus. Even when they were little, when Ukraine lent Russia her scarf, Belarus tried to resist Russia's acceptance of the scarf.

In the Anime

Belarus in Episode 01.

Belarus first appeared in a cameo in Episode 01 at the "Meeting Of The World", where she was seen holding the knife to a crying Latvia's back (as in the manga). She makes another brief cameo in a thought bubble in Episode 37, as Lithuania mentions that he planned to go out on a date with her. She finally makes her speaking debut in Episode 42, where she attempts and succeeds in breaking down her brother's door, in an attempt to get him to agree to marry her.

Belarus in Episode 42, her formal appearance.

Her anime design originally had a color scheme similar to the one that she had in the manga version of the Meeting of the World strip, with her hair being darker and her dress colored black, rather than her hair being light blonde and her dress being navy. The only difference between the designs is that an apron was added and her hair was lengthened to match her later manga design. However, when she reappeared in Episode 42, the colors of her dress and bow were corrected, though her hair still remained dark blonde.

Belarus as a child

Name

Her surname is often rendered and translated as Alfroskaya, but the more accurate spelling would be Arlovskaya, since Alfroskaya would be rendered as Arufurosukaya. Another version of the name is Arlofskaya. If read as Arlovskaya, the surname would correspond to Arlovski, like the Belarusian Andrei Arlovski. It is probable that he was not Himaruya's specific inspiration, though the other two surname spellings cannot be found outside of the fandom. The word "Орёл" is a slavic word that has a similar pronounciation to the root word of Arlovskaya and signifies Eagle, so that could be an inspiration to her surname.

While her name is Natalia, Natasha is alternatively used for her as it is an informal variant of the name and is also considered to be valid. Her first name may have also been intended to be spelled as Natalya, as that is the usual spelling for slavics with that name.

Like Russia, Belarus doesn't have a patronymic (Bel: Імя па бацьку; Imya pa batsku) in her name. Belarusians use (as per de facto custom) the same naming customs of the Russian people.

Character Songs

Trivia

An early draft of Belarus.

Her birthdate, August 25, corresponds with the date of Belarus' establishment of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

According to notes in 2009 by Hidekaz Himaruya, Belarus was originally designed as a shy, more reserved character. An early headshot sketch shows her to have a plain headband, while her hair is colored light brown. Additional notes in the special edition of Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 3 revealed that Himaruya had also considered an angrier character that was more reflective of the "tsundere" archetype, who would always be complaining and frustrated.

To fans who know something of Belarusian history, and Belarus's love for Russia, her tendencies might remind one of something similar to Stockholm's syndrome.